DEVELOPMENT OF A LIGHTWEIGHT ABDUCTION SPLINT FOR PEDIATRIC DDH PATIENTS THROUGH TOPOLOGICAL OPTIMIZATION

Condori Lopez A.; Mejia Tola E.; Silva Vidal Y.; Valdeiglesias Flores E.; Ponte Lopez D.; Vasquez Llave T. · Eastern-European Journal of Enterprise Technologies (2026) · DOI: 10.15587/1729-4061.2026.351704

Resumen

The object of the study is the structural geometry of an abduction splint for pediatric patients with developmental dysplasia. The problem to be solved is the existing commercial orthotic devices exhibit excessive weight and inadequate contact pressure distribution, leading to soft tissue damage, skin irritation, and poor therapeutic compliance in pediatric patients. Main scientific results – topological optimization based on the solid isotropic material with penalization method was applied to redesign the splint geometry. Three medical-grade polymers (ABS medical, PETG medical, and PP) were comparatively evaluated through static finite element analysis (FEA). ABS Medical was selected as the optimal material due to its initial safety factor of 14.95. The iterative optimization process, spanning 81 cycles, achieved a mass reduction of 18.96% (from 395.34 g to 320.38 g) while maintaining a safety factor of 13.69, significantly exceeding the Pugsley-derived minimum of 2.52 established for pediatric medical devices. Peak contact pressure reached 0.962 kPa, well below the critical 5.2 kPa capillary occlusion threshold. Interpretation – weight reduction results from the redistribution of material along principal stress vectors identified through finite element analysis. Distinctive features – the approach achieves nearly double the mass reduction of comparable studies (18.96% vs. 9.58%). Practical value – these results provide a validated framework for manufacturing lightweight and safer orthopedic devices via fused deposition modeling (FDM) additive manufacturing, minimizing dermatological complications Copyright

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional de San Agustín de Arequipa